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Celtic legend Paul Lambert comments on Rangers' demotion in 2012

Ibrox side Glasgow Rangers were demoted to the fourth tier in 2012, and Celtic legend Paul Lambert says it was a terrible decision.

Celtic legend Paul Lambert has told beIN Sports that it was the wrong decision for Rangers to be demoted into the fourth tier of Scottish football back.

The Gers finished second in the Premiership in 2012 but the Ibrox side were booted into the third division after 25 out of 30 Scottish teams voted in favour of their demotion.

Rangers went into administration that previous February and it was revealed two months later that there were £134 million of unpaid debts.

During their absence, Celtic won five Premiership titles on the spin under Neil Lennon and later Ronny Deila, while the Hoops won a sixth straight crown and finished a massive 39 points ahead of their Old Firm rivals on their long-awaited return to the top flight last season.

Scottish football as a whole suffered on a financial level from the Gers' near-obliteration after BSkyB and ESPN pulled the plug on television deals worth around £80 million over five years.

And Lambert says that it was a terrible decision for those 25 clubs to send the Ibrox club to the basement of Scottish football.

He told beIN Sports: "I think it was the worst decision to demote Rangers three leagues. It wasn't good for the Scottish game, the Scottish league and certainly not for the national team.

"Celtic and Rangers, in years gone by, provided a lot of players for the national team and it's mainly Celtic now. That's the bigger picture and people hadn't really thought it through. Nobody thought, 'Well how is this going to affect Scotland, the league itself, Glasgow as a city'?

Shane Callaghan

Shane is a Dublin-based sports writer who swapped the football pitch for the press box upon learning that he was better with a pen than with a round bit of leather. Prior to joining HITC, Shane enjoyed spells with Sports Mole and Goal.com among others, while he was also club reporter for Irish football club Drogheda United.